Author Bios

André Forget joined the Anglican Journal in 2014 as staff writer and social media lead. He also serves as managing editor of Whether Magazine, and his writing has appeared in The Dalhousie Review, The Winnipeg Review, and the Town Crier.

Articles Written

Following a state of emergency brought on by a ruptured water main, the northern Ontario Oji-Cree community of Kingfisher Lake is getting back to normal, says Bishop Lydia Mamakwa, of the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh.

In an address to the 16th Biennial Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) held July 6-9 in Winnipeg, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, celebrated the full communion relationship between the two churches, and praised the ELCIC for providing leadership on interfaith relations.

Anglican chaplains can be found on Canadian university campuses from Halifax to Victoria, and every year, they play a vital role in helping young adults adjust to the strains of navigating higher education.

As wildfires rage across British Columbia’s Central Interior, Anglican leaders in the region are doing what they can to support their communities, says Bishop Barbara Andrews of the Central Interior-based Territory of the People.

While Canadians are quite divided on the role religious and faith communities have played in Canada’s history and development, they tend to view the impact of religious institutions on their own communities more positively, according to arecent poll.

The Anglican Journal won 13 awards from the Canadian Church Press (CCP), including a first place win for biographical profile, at an event held in Quebec City June 22 to recognize excellence among the members of the CCP for work published in 2016.

On June 13, as flood waters rose around the Cree community of Split Lake, Ont., National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald and Bishop of Missinipi Adam Halkett travelled to the site to survey the situation and provide support for the local community.

For the past five years, the work of Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF), the Anglican Church of Canada’s relief and development agency, has focused on the health of mothers and newborns in southern Tanzania’s diocese of Masasi.

As the drowsy heat of afternoon descends, traffic on the footpath leading out of the village slows to a trickle. But small groups of women and children still regularly walk up to fill their large plastic buckets from the stainless-steel pump at the top of a rise of land overlooking a rice paddy.

The diocese of Masasi’s Bishop James Almasi stands beneath the spreading branches of a large tree at the centre of the village, and pauses as the people seated before him acknowledge his greeting with the traditional response: “Alaikum Salaam” (And to you, peace).

It’s barely 9:30 a.m., but already the walkway between the Anglican Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Bartholomew and the bishop’s residence is a furnace, and the dozens of choristers who line it are sweating in their gowns.

When Harima Mkitage's family received a cow four years ago, her parents used some of the money the cow brought in to pay her school fees. Now, she wants to become a livestock specialist. Photo: André Forget Mkumba, Tanzania Seventeen-year-old Harima Mkitage…

On the night of July 11, 2016, Karen Turner and Heather Steeves were sitting in the bar of the hotel where the Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod was meeting; they were commiserating with other members of Equally Anglican, an Anglican LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender, Queer/Questioning) group.

Twelve years after St. Jude’s Cathedral—the iconic house of worship in Iqaluit, Nunavut—was destroyed by arson, the diocese of the Arctic announced it has finally paid off the debt accrued in rebuilding it.

Almost a year after a wildfire devastated Fort McMurray, Alta., the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) says Canadian Anglicans have donated more then $200,000 toward relief, as residents struggle to put their lives back together.

New reconciliation animator Melanie Delva (left) and Indian residential school survivor Terry Aleck at the TRC’s Walk for Reconciliation in 2015. File photo: Anglican Journal The Anglican Church of Canada’s new reconciliation animator, says the church needs to see…

Canon Cathy Campbell, a retired priest and former academic researcher on food security issues, will be the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund’s (PWRDF) new representative on the board of Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB).

At a day-long “creation care fair” held March 25 at St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church in Toronto’s Leaside neighbourhood, Anglicans and community members had a chance to ask church and secular leaders about how they were responding to the challenge of climate change.

Canadian Anglican leaders have upbraided Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak for her assertion that the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was overly negative in its representation of the Indian Residential Schools system.

It’s one of the coldest days in March, and a bitter west wind whistles between the old community housing blocks of Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood, but Andrew Au and Dorothy Wong are focussed on the streetscape, on the incongruity of the new developments, the rush of the streetcars, the way pedestrians carefully navigate the slush and road salt on the narrow sidewalk.

Training new ordained ministers is a “critical need” in many Indigenous communities—but not one traditional seminary education can easily fill, says Bishop Lydia Mamakwa, of the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh.

In a twist on the traditional practice of giving something up for Lent, Anglicans across Canada are pledging to make personal lifestyle changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—and challenging the federal government to match them by pursuing policy changes to fight climate change.

As dioceses struggle to provide adequate ministry to communities that cannot afford full-time priests, church leaders and theological colleges in the Anglican Church of Canada are exploring new ways to train priests and ministers locally, from mentorship programs to weekend classes to peer-to-peer learning.

As Anglican educators, bishops and clergy debate how theological education should be adapted to meet the needs of the 21st-century church, they should not lose sight of the fact that the final goal is to produce ministers with a “Christ-like character,” said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

As the number of Anglicans in Canada decreases and churches close, the parish model—in which every church has a priest and every priest is full-time—is rapidly becoming a relic of the past. How can the Anglican Church of Canada train priests to serve in this new, more uncertain reality?

Refugee advocates speaking on behalf of several Christian and civil society groups say Canada should expand its refugee resettlement efforts following the Trump administration’s January 27 executive order attempting to suspend refugee acceptance to the United States for 120 days.

In a public statement released February 7, the Anglican diocese of British Columbia called on the government of Canada to increase its targets for refugee resettlement to allow at least 7,000 more refugees to enter the country this year.

The Anglican Church of Canada has acknowledged that it played a role in creating the conditions that led to the suicides of two young girls in Wapekeka First Nation, a remote Oji-Cree community in Ontario, earlier this month.

The Anglican Fund for Healing and Reconciliation has been given a new lease on life as it enters its 25th year, following a decision by Council of General Synod (CoGS) to dedicate the undesignated proceeds of General Synod’s annual fundraising campaign to replenish it.

On a chilly Saturday afternoon in December, Bruce Myers, coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Quebec, welcomes theAnglican Journal into his office at the diocese’s Church House, housed in an old stone building in the same compound as the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.

According to a story often repeated in the diocese of Quebec, when the first Anglican bishop, Jacob Mountain, arrived in Quebec City in 1793, he was greeted on the dock by his Roman Catholic counterpart, Bishop Jean-François Hubert.

On December 13, Bishop Dennis Drainville, of the diocese of Quebec, announced that he will “step aside” from episcopal ministry for an unspecified period of time due to health reasons, and that Co-adjutor Bishop Bruce Myers will serve as commissary in the interim.

Anti-racist activism could be an excellent opportunity for Lutheran and Anglican congregations to engage in grass-roots ecumenical action, says Pat Lovell, representative to Council of General Synod (CoGS) from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).

In 2017, the Anglican Church of Canada will hold a national consultation to discuss the current status of relations between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous people within the Anglican Church of Canada.

The Anglican Church of Canada needs to recognize the unique challenges lay people face in participating in church at the national level, Katie Puxley told Council of General Synod (CoGS) in her November 20 reflection.

While recent years have seen much talk of “unity” in certain quarters of the deeply divided Anglican Church of Canada, unity is not just an end in itself, says Archdeacon Michael Thompson, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada.

On November 20, Council of General Synod (CoGS) passed four resolutions related to how it will deal with the resolution to change the marriage canon to allow same-sex marriage in the triennium before General Synod 2019.

The Anglican Church of Canada is looking for a “reconciliation animator” to help continue its work on reconciliation and justice with Indigenous peoples, and to support the work of the Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation and Justice.

On November 18, Indigenous ministries and the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) laid out concrete steps for how they will continue to pursue self-determination for Indigenous Anglicans within the national church over the coming three years.

Mississauga, Ont.If the Anglican Church of Canada wants to strengthen its reconciliation efforts, it should continue to provide funds for the preservation of Indigenous languages, says Esther Wesley, co-ordinator for the Anglican Fund for Healing and Reconciliation.

In a wide-ranging address, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, opened Council of General Synod’s (CoGS) first meeting of the 2016-2017 triennium by encouraging members to see their church’s social justice work as grounds for unity.

On November 3, her first day at Standing Rock Sioux Nation in North Dakota, in the midst of a massive push to stop the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline, a stranger came up to the Rev. Leigh Kern and gave her a doughnut.

Since late September, 18-year-old Lizzy Jones, of Ottawa, has been working on a unique project: she is collecting the memories and stories of Anglicans from the parish of Metcalf-Greely & Vernon, which she hopes will form the basis for a film or book.

National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald has joined hundreds of clergy, from the U.S., Canada and beyond, in travelling to Standing Rock reservation in North and South Dakota to stand with the “water protectors” who have been resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline since August.

It’s a Friday morning in early September, and The Smokin’ Buddha is still mostly empty when the owner, Kevin Echlin, brings a smiling young man out from the kitchen and introduces us—or rather, re-introduces us.

For centuries, the organ was the foundation for Anglican and Lutheran liturgical music, and in Europe’s great gothic churches and cathedrals, some of the greatest composers in the Western tradition held day jobs writing music that would be played at services, rather than concerts.

When the diocese of Algoma gathered for an electoral synod last week, Archdeacon Anne Germond’s name was not on the ballot; nor was she featured among the other official candidates for the position on the diocesan website.

Three clergy in the diocese of Toronto have sent a letter to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to register dissent and request an “intervention” following the election of Canon Kevin Robertson, a gay man currently living with his partner, to the episcopate in September.

While the decision by some provinces in the Anglican Communion to accept the ordination of women and same-sex marriage have hindered formal unity between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, a common declaration issued by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Pope Francis October 5 reaffirmed their commitment to ecumenical work.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has called for a nationwide meeting to assess the progress made since Indigenous Anglicans first declared their intention to work toward self-determination in the 1994 Covenant.

In a written response to a statement issued by seven Canadian bishops expressing their dissent from General Synod’s decision to move toward solemnizing same-sex marriages, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, pushed back against several of the points they had raised.

After three years spent in intense debate over a resolution to allow the marriage of same-sex couples, the House of Bishops intends to shift its focus to “evangelism and discipleship and mission” in the next triennium, says Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, following the house’s September 22-27 meeting in Winnipeg.

After the killing of a young Indigenous man near Biggar, Sask., in August, local Anglicans and Lutherans have been confronted with the challenge of putting what they have learned about reconciliation into practice, says the Rev. Mark Kleiner, priest-in-charge at St. Paul’s Anglican Church and Redeemer Lutheran Church in Biggar.

While these questions might at first seem academic, at the Rev. Jeffrey Metcalfe’s workshop on the theology of money at the annual Resources for Mission (RfM) stewardship gathering September 8, they galvanized a wide-ranging and passionate conversation.

For decades, many parishes and dioceses of the Anglican Church of Canada have watched the money raised through tithes and offerings drop. At the same time, they have seen the growth of new kinds of spiritual practice based around tight-knit, less denominationally rigid communities of worship.

Barnabas is best known as a New Testament missionary, apostle and companion of St. Paul, but Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, believes he can also teach the 21st-century church how to approach stewardship and fundraising.

The Canadian Lutheran and Anglican Youth (CLAY) conference, which took place from August 17-21, in Charlottetown, offered nearly 1,000 youth the opportunity to do many things: learn about their faith, dig into the nitty-gritty of discipleship with service projects, explore a different part of the country and swim in the ocean.

As pipeline construction near Standing Rock Indian Reservation on the Missouri River continues to cause tensions between Indigenous protesters and the U.S. government, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald are calling on Canadians to support the protesters.

The tent city pitched between the courthouse and Christ Church Anglican Cathedral in downtown Victoria for much of the past year may be gone, but its impact on how the city deals with homelessness continues, says Nancy Ford, the cathedral’s deacon to the city.

For the second year in a row, Bishop David Edwards of the diocese of Fredericton spent the first two weeks of June walking the streets and highways to visit parishes, pray with Anglicans and witness to the communities he visited along the way.

The Muskoka region in the diocese of Algoma is famous for its idyllic lakes, rocky shorelines, and—in Anglican circles—its rich history of missionary activity by the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE).

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, says he understands why some bishops have chosen to go ahead with the solemnization of same-sex marriages, even though the marriage canon (church law) cannot be officially changed until it is voted on again at General Synod 2019.

In a stunning reversal, a recount of the vote to allow same-sex marriage in the Anglican Church of Canada showed that while the motion was originally reported to have failed by one vote in the order of clergy, it had, in fact, passed by one vote there.

After voting against a motion to allow the solemnization of same-sex marriages in the Anglican Church of Canada July 11, General Synod passed a motion this morning to “reaffirm the 2004 General Synod statement on the integrity and sanctity of same-sex relationships.”

A resolution to change the marriage canon (church law) to allow for the solemnization of marriages of same-sex couples failed to pass by a fraction of a percentage point at the Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod July 11.

After three years of work, the Primate’s Commission on the Doctrine of Discovery, Reconciliation and Justice has asked that its mandate be extended to 2019, and that funding be provided so it may continue its work.

​Indigenous Anglicans took another step on the road toward self-determination July 10 when General Synod received two documents presenting the goals, objectives and features of a fully Indigenous province within the Anglican Church of Canada.

The scent of sage and sweetgrass lingered in the cavernous Grand York Ballroom of the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel & Suites as members and guests of General Synod raised their voices to sing Reginald Heber’s classic hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

When Archbishop Josiah Atkins Idowu-Fearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, addressed General Synod on July 9, he thanked the Anglican Church of Canada for its many contributions to the Communion. He did not indicate how Monday, July 11's vote on whether to allow the solemnization of same-sex marriages would affect Canada’s place in the global Anglican body.

A Friday night media panel featuring a diverse group of experts urged Anglicans not to assume the question of whether or not the church will choose to allow the solemnization of same-sex marriages is already decided.

Despite the fact that the Episcopal diocese of Cuba has been in limbo for half a century, new signs of growth are sprouting up across the island nation, diocesan bishop Griselda Delgado del Carpio told the members of General Synod in her July 8 address.

By a vote of 159-54, General Synod members vote to suspend, for the duration of their meeting, a rule requiring a vote for or against a motion unless they have a material conflict of interest. Photo: Art Babych A motion to allow members of General Synod to abstain…

In his opening address to the 41st General Synod, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, gave members a whirlwind tour through the work the church is doing to support social, ecological and climate justice both domestically and internationally.

Standing before the broad wooden altar dominating the centre of the meeting hall, clothed in crimson vestments, the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, delivered his sermon at the opening Eucharist of the 41st meeting of General Synod in a voice thick with emotion.

On the morning of July 7, Anglican youth delegates who had come from across Canada for the 41st General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, were given the opportunity for a pre-synod question-and-answer session with Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Canadian Anglican church.

As General Synod staff and organizers made the final preparations for the opening of the 41st General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, which meets here July 7-12, 21 youth delegates from across the country gathered in a small room in a quiet part of the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel & Suites to take part in a pre-synod orientation and ice-breaker.

The bishops of the diocese of Saskatchewan have said that even though they do not support changing the marriage canon to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples, they will work for unity regardless of the vote’s outcome.

Seven years after the first Consultation of Anglican Bishops in Dialogue was held at the Anglican Communion offices in London, England, in 2010, a record 24 bishops—including four primates—came together in Accra, Ghana, from May 25-29 to learn about the unique contexts and challenges different parts of the African, North American and English churches are facing.

In the months leading up to General Synod’s July 7-12 meeting, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has devoted much of his time to strengthening the Canadian church’s internal and ecumenical relationships at home and abroad.

Since the worldwide refugee crisis was catapulted into public consciousness 10 months ago, Canadian Anglicans have helped to resettle around 1,750 refugees, says Suzanne Rumsey, refugee co-ordinator for The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF).

As the Anglican Church of Canada prepares for a controversial vote on whether or not to change its laws to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples, the diocese of the Arctic has sent a memorial to General Synod stating its commitment to maintaining the status quo.

A year after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its final report, Canadian Anglicans are using Canada's 20th anniversary celebrations of National Aboriginal Day (June 21) as an opportunity to work toward reconciliation.

This September, after nine years in limbo, the Arthur Turner Training School (ATTS) will once again open its doors to Anglicans for ministry in the diocese of the Arctic—this time, out of its new home at St. Jude’s Cathedral in Iqaluit.

A drop-in centre’s criticism of its former host church has sparked controversy, concern and debate among Anglicans in Montreal and across Canada over how churches should relate to the homeless and marginalized.

As the Anglican Church of Canada braces itself for the General Synod vote this July on whether or not to change church law to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples, Bishop Donald Phillips of the diocese of Rupert’s Land has said that, “The time has come for the provision of same-sex marriages in our diocese to become reality.”

For the second year in a row, Bishop David Edwards of the diocese of Fredericton will spend the first two weeks of June walking the streets and highways of his territory, visiting parishes, praying with Anglicans and witnessing to the communities he visits along the way.

Threshold Ministries, the Saint John, N.B.-based evangelism organization formerly known as the Church Army, has decided to move toward a “missional community” model of organization to open up more avenues of membership, says newly appointed dean of community, Bonnie Hunt.

General Synod is on the horizon, and for some Anglicans, it will be their first time to see representatives from across the national church all coming together in one place—so what can they do to make the most of the experience?

In a May 15 sermon at Victoria, B.C.’s Christ Church Cathedral, Dean Ansley Tucker announcedshe would be calling for the homeless camp—pitched across the street from downtown Victoria’s Christ Church Cathedral since October 2015—to be dismantled and alternative accommodation found for its residents.

Church media have a vital role to play in combatting racism in North America, according to a panel discussion on race and religion held April 21 at the annual convention of the Associated Church Press (ACP).

The April 8–19 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Lusaka, Zambia, was marked by a sense of unity and common purpose, according to Canadian delegates Bishop Jane Alexander and Suzanne Lawson.

While the government has now tabled legislation to clarify the laws around assisted dying, responses from some members of the Anglican Church of Canada’s task force on assisted dying reveal that the church—and Canadian society—remain divided about how widely available assisted dying should be.

When General Synod meets in Richmond Hill, Ont., July 7-12, the worship will focus on getting back to the roots of the Anglican liturgy, according to the Rev. Martha Tatarnic, chair of the General Synod 2016 worship committee.

The diocese of British Columbia is working to find land where micro-housing for the tent city that has sprung up across the street from downtown Victoria’s Christ Church Cathedral, can be built, says Bishop Logan McMenamie.

Anglicans and Mennonites in Canada haven’t historically had much to do with each other, but that could change if General Synod—which meets July 7-12—votes to adopt a resolution put forward by the faith, worship and ministry committee to enter into a five-year, bilateral dialogue with Mennonite Church Canada.

When Bishop Logan McMenamie of the diocese of British Columbia approached the steps of Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, B.C., on the morning of March 27—Easter Sunday—he took the final steps of a gruelling 470-km journey to “re-enter the land.”

For the first time since the Canadian chapter of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) was folded into its American counterpart in 1984, a Canadian will serve as the monastic order’s brother superior, following the election of Br. James Koester at the beginning of March.

When General Synod meets in Richmond Hill, Ont., from July 7-12, making sure the church and Canadian society at large know exactly what is going on will be the cornerstone of the communications plan, said Meghan Kilty, director of communications for the Anglican Church of Canada.

Changes introduced after General Synod 2013 to streamline the structure and operations of the national church have met with mixed results, Archdeacon Michael Thompson said in his report to a March 12 meeting of Council of General Synod (CoGS).

While conversations about what an alternative structure for a self-determining Indigenous Anglican church might look like have been going on for some time—and were a major topic of conversation at the Sacred Circle, held in Port Elgin, Ont., in 2015—National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald said that structure is not currently the most pressing priority.

When it meets July 7-12, General Synod will be asked to consider a resolution asking that a task force be created to “review the investment policies and practices” of General Synod assets and those of the General Synod Pension Plan, “in light of the church’s faith and mission, including [its] social and environmental responsibilities.”

When General Synod meets in July to vote on same-sex marriage, ample discussion time must be provided before the vote is taken, the working group on the marriage canon recommended in a March 13 report to Council of General Synod (CoGS).

Mississauga, Ont.In his reflections during the last session of Council of General Synod (CoGS) for the last priennium, the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada expressed frustration that Anglicans have not exhibited the same degree of passion for human rights issues as it has for debates about same-sex marriage.

Mississauga Ont.Council of General Synod (CoGS) unanimously agreed March 12 to send to General Synod 2016 a resolution formulated by the Commission on the Marriage Canon which would change the Anglican Church of Canada’s law to pave the way for same-sex marriage.

The Anglican Church of Canada may be facing demographic challenges, but response to fundraising remains strong, said Monica Patten, interim director of Resources for Mission (RfM) in a March 11 presentation to Council of General Synod (CoGS).

As Council of General Synod (CoGS) members gathered March 10 for their last meeting of the triennium, the question of how they will prepare the 2016 General Synod for its upcoming vote on same-sex marriage hung heavily over the proceedings.

A year after the Episcopal Church of Cuba voted unanimously to return to The Episcopal Church (TEC) following the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States, it is still unclear how this will affect the relationship between the Cuban and Canadian Anglican churches, said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

In the first election of its kind, Col. the Ven. Nigel Shaw, director of chaplaincy operations for the Canadian Armed Forces, Navy and Air Force, was chosen as the new bishop-elect of the Anglican Military Ordinariate March 5 via an electronic electoral synod.

On Saturday, March 6, Bishop Logan McMenamie of the diocese of British Columbia will take the first steps on a 465-kilometer walk to symbolically “re-enter the land” on behalf of the Anglican church on Vancouver Island.

A resolution asking General Synod to allow same-sex marriage will still go forward despite a statement from the House of Bishops suggesting it is unlikely that such a motion will pass, says Canon (lay) David Jones, chancellor of General Synod.

When Anglicans across Canada celebrate the third annual Jerusalem Sunday May 8, they will be able to share their experiences on social media via an official Jerusalem Sunday Facebook page and a new Twitter hashtag, #JerusalemSunday, which are in the works, says Andrea Mann, director of global relations for the Anglican Church of Canada.

On October 19, 2014, Fathi Ismail, 16, approached the squat grey building surrounded by windswept prairie where the Interstate 29 from Grand Forks, N.D., turns into the Lord Selkirk Highway to Winnipeg.

Bishop Tim Thornton of the diocese of Truro in the Church of England is the co-chair for the Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee in England, and serves on the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Council for Unity and Mission.

General Synod might get a technological boost at its July 7-12 meeting in Richmond Hill, Ont., with the introduction of tablet computers for delegates and members, said planning committee chair Dean Peter Wall.

“All of us belong to God,” said Canon Douglas Graydon to Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, at a gathering held to discuss same-sex marriage in the Canadian church. “The question is whether we belong to the church.”

Dean James McShane, who serves at St. Luke’s Cathedral in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in the diocese of Algoma, became the first honorary chaplain of the 49th Field Regiment in its 103-year history in ceremony January 7.

An unusual refugee sponsorship is underway in Toronto, where the midtown Church of the Transfiguration and staff at Church House, the national office of the Anglican Church of Canada, are considering the possibility of pooling their resources to bring in and support a refugee family in 2016.

After performing together for 19 years, the Three Cantors—Archdeacon David Pickett, Dean Peter Wall, Bishop-elect William Cliff and maestro Angus Sinclair—will return to the church that hosted their first performance to sing a final concert before Cliff is consecrated seventh bishop of the diocese of Brandon.

While issues around human sexuality and church order were the main topics of conversation when the primates of the Anglican Communion met in Canterbury from January 11-15, issues such as climate change and religious violence drew the broadest participation, said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said that despite the confusion, frustration and pain arising from a communiqué “requiring” the Episcopal Church (TEC) to face consequences for its decision to allow same-sex marriage, last week’s Primates’ meeting in Canterbury, England, was a success.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was noncommittal about what consequence, if any, there would be for the Anglican Church of Canada should its General Synod vote this July to allow same-sex marriage.

Less than a week before a meeting that will bring primates of the provinces in the Anglican Communion together for the first time since 2011, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has released a video asking Anglicans to pray for “wisdom and love” for their leaders.

After a career that spanned more than 50 years of ordained ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada, James David Cruickshank, seventh bishop of the diocese of Cariboo, died December 30 in the presence of his family. He was 79.

Anglican Fund for Healing and Reconciliation co-ordinator Esther Wesley has welcomed a recent decision by Council of General Synod (CoGS) that will allow the fund to continue operating with its administrative costs covered by money returned to General Synod through the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

In mid-December, the diocese of Quebec completed a four-year process of divestment from fossil fuels and resource extraction, making it the first diocese in the Anglican Church of Canada to fully divest from both mining and fossil fuels.

A number of primates within the Anglican Communion are pushing for a Primates’ Meeting agenda that “reflects not only concerns within the domestic life of the church, but around the urgent issues within our common humanity,” said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

A new initiative that will provide Indigenous clergy with resources to help fight what has been called an epidemic of suicides in some Indigenous communities will be launched in time for Lent, according to the Rev. Nancy Bruyere, the Anglican Church of Canada’s suicide prevention co-ordinator for western Canada and the Arctic.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, is scheduled to have his annual meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on December 9 and said he’s hoping to get an update about the upcoming Primates’ Meeting.

Upon returning from an end-of-November trip to the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said that he hopes the two churches are on their way to a “formal, global partner relationship” within the Anglican Communion.

A retired Anglican priest was charged on November 20 with sexually assaulting three boys during his time as rector of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church at Chippewa-On-The-Thames First Nation nearly 40 years ago.

A church commission’s report providing the biblical and theological argument for the adoption of same-sex marriage does little to bridge the ideological gap between conservatives and liberals in the Anglican Church of Canada, according to theologians interviewed by the Anglican Journal.

The Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI) has been officially recognized as a territory with the status of a diocese within the Anglican Church of Canada, but its bishop, Barbara Andrews, said this was more about legally acknowledging APCI’s position than it was about changing how it operates day to day.

Canon Robert Kereopa thinks it is "necessary" for Indigenous Anglicans to achieve self-determination in Canada. Photo: André Forget Last summer, Canon Robert Kereopa was invited to give a keynote at the 8th National Anglican Sacred Circle in Port Elgin, Ont., where…

Anglicans and Lutherans have developed very close ties since entering into full communion in 2001, but keeping those ties strong requires members of both churches to engage both prayerfully and candidly with each other, their leaders say.

Council of General Synod (CoGS) has stressed that delegates to the 2016 General Synod need space, time, and appropriate preparation in order to keep discussions around same-sex marriage from becoming antagonistic.

The Council of General Synod (CoGS) voted today to recognize the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI) as a territory in the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon with “the status of a diocese.”

The directors of The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) and of Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) have offered hopeful words about the work their relief and development organizations are doing to help refugees, and a dire prognosis for the refugee crisis as a whole.

On the same day that Justin Trudeau was sworn in as Canada’s 23rd prime minister November 4, he received a letterfrom Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and National Bishop Susan Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) congratulating him for his victory and welcoming his “approach to governance.”

On Saturday, October 31, the synod of the diocese of Brandon elected Canon William Cliff, rector of the Collegiate Chapel of St. John the Evangelist at Huron University College in the diocese of Huron, as its seventh diocesan bishop.

When the House of Bishops met in Niagara Falls, Ont., in mid-October, one of the first items on the agenda was the policy of authorized lay ministry adopted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) during its National Convention this summer.

General Synod 2016 might seem far away, but preparations for the meeting of the Anglican Church of Canada’s governing body are well underway, according to Dean Peter Wall, chair of the planning committee.

Across Canada, in small towns and major cities, there are people slowly working on projects about which they care deeply, but which even their friends and relatives and neighbours may know little about, or have little interest in.

When the death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi brought public attention into sharp focus on the global refugee crisis, support welled up for those who have been driven from their homes by violent conflict in the Middle East.

In an open letter, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, National Bishop Susan Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald have urged Anglicans and Lutherans to follow the lead of their youth in “lifting up” the struggling Ojibwe community of Pikangikum in northern Ontario by writing to their political representatives in Ottawa.

The special session of Council of General Synod (CoGS) has drafted the resolution to change the marriage canon to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples, which will be brought to a vote before General Synod in 2016.

When the Council of General Synod’s (CoGS) received the Commission on the Marriage Canon’s final report, ‘This Holy Estate,’ presented to the in Toronto on September 22, delegates were quick to express questions and concerns over how the information in the 65-page report would be disseminated.

On September 24 and 25, the head bishops of the Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches in North America will meet in Washington, D.C. to talk about how to more fully live out the implications of their full communion relationships.

The past decade has not been an easy one for the diocese of Niagara. Beset by financial woes, theological divisions over the place of gays and lesbians in the church and a series of lawsuits from parishes that left the diocese to join the breakaway Anglican Network in Canada, diocesan leadership has faced challenging times.

On September 11, the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF), the Anglican Church of Canada’s relief and development arm, announcedthat it had donated $20,000 to Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance to help provide aid to Syrian refugees in Hungary, Greece and Serbia.

The image of the body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, a Syrian refugee, washed up on a Turkish shore, has galvanized outpourings of grief around the world and led many to ask why more isn’t being done to help vulnerable refugees.

The General Synod that met in Halifax in 2010 passed a resolution repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery, but the Anglican Church of Canada is still struggling to break free from the legacy of institutional racism that resulted from this ideology.

The Anglican Church of Canada’s Indigenous ministries department has highlighted the importance of ongoing conversation by giving laptop computers to nine community leaders in order to strengthen communications among Indigenous Anglicans.

What do young Indigenous Anglicans want from their church? According to a youth panel at the eighth National Anglican Sacred Circle in Port Elgin, Ont., the answer is pretty clear: engagement with issues that matter in their own lives.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) may not have the same residential school history that the Anglican Church of Canada does, but its national bishop, Susan Johnson, has committed her church to walking together in partnership with Indigenous Anglicans.

In 2014, the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) released a statement entitled Where We Are Today: Twenty Years After the Covenant, A Call to the Wider Church, that spoke to the ongoing crisis in Indigenous communities.

“We’re not going to talk about statistics: we all know them,” said Canon Ginny Doctor, Indigenous Ministries co-ordinator for the Anglican Church of Canada, to a plenary on suicide prevention at the eighth National Anglican Sacred Circle. “Many in this room have been touched by suicide; we know that there is a lot of healing to be done.”

It is a story that is sadly all-too-familiar around the world: a pastoral people who lived on the land for generations have had their spirituality stripped from them and their traditional territories taken away by a colonizing power, and their descendants are now trying to recover a sense of identity and political agency in the face of strong resistance from the dominant society.

In June this year, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) presented 94 Calls to Action in response to the damage done to Indigenous communities by the Indian residential school program. But which of these calls resonated most deeply with Indigenous Anglicans?

In a keynote address to the eighth Sacred Circle on August 18, Canon Robert Kereopa of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia stressed the importance of healthy partnership models for Indigenous churches moving toward self-determination.

Across the Anglican Church of Canada, the Book of Alternative Services and the Book ofCommon Prayer are the liturgical foundation for Sunday morning services. But at St. Christopher’s Anglican Church in Burlington, Ont., the traditional liturgy is getting a reboot.

The Rev. Robert Daniel MacRae, first secretary of the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF), former rector of St. John the Divine Anglican Church in Victoria, B.C. and archdeacon of Juan de Fuca, diocese of British Columbia, died on August 1 after a short illness. He was 82.

On August 7, the Anglican Church of Canada’s Indigenous bishops attempted to chart a course between the liberal/conservative binary on the question of whether the church should practice same-sex marriages in their statementto the commission on the marriage canon.

It has been an issue for almost a hundred years, but this summer Winnipeggers have decided that it is time for the Ojibwa/Ontario Saulteaux First Nation of Shoal Lake Band #40 to get its due, and Anglican voices have been some of the loudest advocating for change.

In a nine-page contribution submitted to the Anglican Church of Canada’s commission on the marriage canon earlier today, the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue of Canada (ARC) warns that changing Canon 21 to allow for same-sex marriages would “weaken the very basis of our existing communion, and weaken the foundations upon which we have sought to build towards fuller ecclesial communion.”

Luis sits at a table in the parish hall of St. Alban’s Anglican Church after a Sunday afternoon service, eating a hard shell chicken taco. Between bites he answers questions from the Anglican Journal about his two-and-a-half decades of experience as a temporary foreign worker in Canada.

The ecclesiastical province of Rupert’s Land elected the Rt. Rev. Gregory Kerr-Wilson, 53, bishop of the diocese of Calgary, its new metropolitan on June 18, the first day of its synod at Manitou Springs, Watrous, Sask.

Cries of “care not cuts!” echoed down Hamilton’s King St. West as a group of protestors marched around Jackson Square as part of the National Day of Action to protest cuts made to refugee health care in 2012.

In the basement of St. George’s Anglican Church in Kamloops, B.C., Theresa Walker, a parishioner at St. Paul’s Cathedral, is studying math. As she looks over the exercise sheet in front of her, she explains that she’s working toward her high school diploma.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) has been investigating the tragic legacy of Canada’s Indian residential schools for the past six years, and last Wednesday, June 3, it held its closing ceremonies at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, but two prominent Indigenous Anglicans who had come to Ottawa for the final events were not present.

The first event of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began in Winnipeg in 2010 with residential school survivors lighting a sacred fire where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet; the last one ended in Ottawa on June 3 with children leading the way out of Rideau Hall and into a garden of paper hearts.

Acknowledging that their apologies for harms done at Indian residential schools “are not enough,” Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and United church leaders on June 2 welcomed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) recommendations that they say will offer direction to their “continuing commitment to reconciliation” with Indigenous peoples.

A journey of six years reached its climax on June 2 when the summary of the final report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was presented to a crowded audience in the Grand Ballroom of Ottawa’s Delta hotel.

“My mom and dad didn’t tell us why they were putting us on the train. I thought they were coming with us,” said Clara Fergus, a Cree woman from northern Manitoba to a sharing circle on the morning of June 1, at the beginning of the final event of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides “a crucial framework for achieving reconciliation, justice and healing in Canada for all indigenous peoples,” according to Paul Joffe, a lawyer who represents the Grand Council of the Crees in international forums and who has done a lot of work on aboriginal law.

Drums thunder in the Rue Laurier underpass, and voices echo in song and conversation. Banners, placards, signs and flags catch the wind coming in off the Ottawa River, and below them thousands of marchers approach Portage bridge, which links Gatineau with Ottawa.

Soft morning light streams into the second-floor windows of the Blue Sage Bed and Breakfast in Ashcroft, B.C.

Sitting around a table laden with fruit, biscuits, jam and fresh coffee, Karyn Bryson, Lois Hill, Sylvia Strathearn, David Durksen and Martina Duncan discuss the collaborative approach to ministry they have been pioneering over the past few years at St. Alban’s Anglican Church, a stone’s throw to the south.

Although June will see the final event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Ottawa, and the release of the commission’s final report, the work of reconciliation is only just beginning for the Anglican Church of the Redeemer in downtown Toronto.

“I’m one of the older lay ministers – I’ve been doing it since before they even called us lay ministers,” O’Della Grundy chuckles, while going over an order of service she will use for a memorial later in the day. “When I talk about [my] ministry to seniors, my daughter always says, ‘Mom, you are one!’”

A Montreal priest’s visit to the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI) timed to coincide with the parishes’ assembly at the beginning of May has served to further cement a companionship relationship first established in 2008.

At first glance, there seems to be an error on the sign outside the small white church in this community, located 66 km north of Kamloops. “ST PAUL,” it reads, without the usual period following the “ST.” But it is no error—the sign, though it refers to the saint, is actually a clever acronym: “Serving Together, Parish of Anglicans, United and Lutherans.”

At the assembly of the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI) on Saturday, May 2, APCI Bishop Barbara Andrews invited Anglicans from across the Central Interior to join the ongoing First Nations-lead protests against biosolid dumping in the Nicola Valley.

At its May 1 Assembly, the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI) unanimously passed a historic resolution asking the synod of the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and the Yukon to recognize APCI as a territory with rights to elect a bishop through its own nomination and electoral processes.

The town council of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s may have voted last week to allow St. Philip’s Anglican Church to demolish its former church building, but two appeals brought before council in the wake of the decision have ensured that the story is not over yet.

The town council of Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s may have voted last week to allow St. Phillip’s Anglican Church to demolish its former church building, but two appeals brought before council in the wake of the decision have ensured that the story is not over yet.

The town council of Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s may have voted last week to allow St. Phillip’s Anglican Church to demolish its former church building, but two appeals brought before council in the wake of the decision have ensured that the story is not over yet.

The Rev. Mpho Tutu, daughter of famous Anglican archbishop, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu, visited the Anglican Church of Canada headquarters in Toronto earlier today to discuss the differences and similarities between Canada’s and South Africa’s experiences with truth and reconciliation commissions.

The acrimonious debate over what is to be done with the deconsecrated 120-year-old Anglican church in the town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, Nfld., was decided last night by a contentious town council vote of 4–3 in favour of demolition.

Newfoundland may be characterized in the minds of many by its remote outports, bucolic fishing villages and slower way of life, but these picturesque communities, like the province’s larger cities, are dealing with a distinctly modern problem: abuse of prescription and illegal drugs.

On April 15, Christians from across Eastern Canada gathered at the Green Churches Conference/Colloque Églises Vertes in Quebec City to learn about how churches can practise better environmental stewardship and to sign an ecumenical declaration committing their churches to creating a “climate of hope” in the face of worsening climate change.

Earlier this afternoon, the province of British Columbia announced it will give $1 million to Christ Church Cathedral’s building campaign, which is raising money to repair the cathedral’s roof, add a new bell tower and expand its community outreach kitchen.

Andrew Bennett has served as Canada’s first Ambassador to the Office of Religious Freedom since the position was created in February 2013. Previously, Bennett, a native of Toronto, Ont., served as a professor and dean at Saint Paul University in Ottawa and worked as a member of the civil service in Export and Development Canada and the Privy Council Office.

While St. Jude’s Cathedral now stands proudly in central Iqaluit, the debt incurred in building it stands at $1.27 million, according to Darren McCartney, suffragan bishop for the diocese of the Arctic, an amount that significantly inhibits the diocese’s ability to go about its mission.

Indigenous Anglican leaders stated at a recent meeting of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) that they hope their most recent call for greater self-determination to be the last one needed.

While the dramatic downturn in oil prices that has occurred over the past six months has had a wide-ranging impact on economic prospects across Canada, those who have been hit hardest are people who were already on the margins, according to the Rev. Dale Neufeld, priest-in-charge of the parish of Fort McMurray, Alta.

On the international stage, conversations about Canada and climate change tend to focus exclusively on the tar sands of Alberta, but this was not the case at the recent Anglican “Eco-Bishops conference” held Feb. 23 to 27, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Rachel Carnegie is co-director of the Anglican Alliance, a position she has been in since 2014. Previously, she served as the Archbishop of Canterbury's secretary for international development and as a parish priest. Before taking holy orders, she spent many years working in the international development world with organizations such as Save the Children and Unicef. The Anglican Journal had the opportunity to sit down with her while she was visiting the offices of the Anglican Church of Canada and talk about the purpose of the Anglican Alliance and its role in the Communion.

Not many churches can say their music director is up for a Juno Award—but then, not many churches have Drew Brown working for them.

The Toronto native, who currently serves as creative arts director at Trinity Streetsville, in the diocese of Toronto, is one of five contenders in the category of Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year for his most recent release,Analog Love in Digital Times.

A new community will be taking root at Lambeth Palace in September, and it has just started accepting applications.

The Community of St. Anselm, named for the medieval intellectual and former Archbishop of Canterbury, is accepting applications from across the Communion from young people who want to spend “a year in God’s time” living at Lambeth Palace in prayer, study and spiritual discovery.

In the modern world, most of us live highly specialized lives. We generally assume that it is more efficient to trade our time for pay and then to pay other people for their time rather than doing things like growing food and making clothes ourselves.

The now-defunct Indian residential school system may be one of the most well-known examples of how imperialism has done deep damage to Canada’s First Nations, but it was only a symptom of a larger problem.

The Rev. Sam Rose, rector at St. Michael and All Angels in St. John’s, Nfld., laughs as he tells an old joke about how many Anglicans it takes to change a light bulb. “Change?” says one of the Anglicans “My grandfather gave us that light bulb—why do we need to change it?”

From February 23rd to 27th, Bishop Jane Alexander of the diocese of Edmonton and National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald will join 15 other bishops from across the Anglican Communion in Cape Town, South Africa, to discuss ways in which the Anglican Church can respond concretely to the issue of climate change.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, issued a statement Tuesday night on the Supreme Court’s ruling on physician-assisted dying in which he called on Anglicans to “exhibit an unwavering resolve to include those most affected by our deliberations” in conversations around end-of-life issues.

Following a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of Canada on Feb. 6 to strike down as unconstitutional the ban on assisted dying, the Anglican Church of Canada’s task force on end-of-life issues will release this spring a new document outlining the church’s response and guidelines for how Anglicans should work within the new legal reality.

The diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador is a place of contrasts. In its centre, St. John’s, wealthy property developers rub shoulders with fishermen and oil workers just back from Alberta’s Fort McMurray. In its farthest-flung regions, priests drive for hours to visit remote parishes in Labrador.

Every few weeks, thousands of Newfoundlanders make the long commute to northern Alberta to work in the oil industry. They stay there for a “shift” of two to four weeks, and return to their families on their weeks off.

On the frosty morning of January 30, participants at the Vital Church Planting conference at St. Paul’s Bloor Street in Toronto took some time to explore the virtues of slowing down, accepting uncertainty and embracing weakness.

Students and faculty of Queen’s College in the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador kicked off the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with an interdenominational service featuring a sermon from Archbishop Martin Currie of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of St. John's.

The parish of Torbay/Pouch Cove
in the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador celebrated the
installation of a new priest yesterday in the person of Rev. Betty
Harbin, but it turns out that the new priest isn’t that new, after all.

January 18, 2015 may have been a day for important anniversaries in the small town of Upper Island Cove in the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, but it was a day that focused just as much on the future as on the past.

It has been a long process, but the Anglican Church of Canada will submit today its digital records relating to Indian Residential Schools—over 300,000 pages of documents—to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

In early May, the Toronto-based Sisterhood of St. John the Divine (SSJD) will have a new reverend mother.

Sister Elizabeth Rolfe-Thomas, who has served as prioress (or assistant to the reverend mother) since 2008 and as novice director since 2003, was elected to replace the incumbent, Reverend Mother Sister Elizabeth Ann Eckert.

​​The Metropolitan Council of Cuba (MCC), which has overseen the Episcopal Church of Cuba since the embargo of 1960 made travel and communication between the Cuban church and the church in the United States almost impossible, has released a statement of thanksgiving for the normalization of American-Cuban relations.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, recently met with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and discussed the progress of developments in the Canadian church such as the Commission on the Marriage Canon and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).

The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) has urged the Anglican Church of Canada not to amend its marriage canon (church law) to allow the marriage of same-sex couples, saying such a move would “cause great distress for the Communion as a whole, and for its ecumenical relationships.”

Following U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision Dec. 17 to re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba after 54 years, the leadership of the Episcopal Church of Cuba released a statement thanking God for the repatriation of prisoners to both countries and thanking the churches in the United States for the “bridges of hope” they affirmed during the decades of separation.

In a historic announcement Dec. 17, President Barack Obama said the United States would re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba after 54 years of isolationist foreign policy toward the island nation that included a crippling trade embargo. The decision will have far-reaching effects on the island nation’s economic and diplomatic situation and on the lives of its 11.26 million citizens, but it may also mean that new possibilities open up for the Episcopal Church of Cuba (ECC).

In a Christmas message released on Dec. 17, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, reminded Anglicans not to take for granted their ability to openly celebrate their faith this Christmas.

It is a fractious time in the life of the Anglican church, both in Canada and in the world, but even as the Communion struggles to overcome pernicious divisions over issues such as human sexuality or the ordination of women, it is also turning to the tradition of the scriptures and the indigenous wisdom of its diverse membership to find potential ways forward.

On July 19, the Rev. Canon Virginia “Ginny” Doctor, indigenous ministries co-ordinator for the Anglican Church of Canada, began to have difficulty breathing after suffering from flu-like symptoms for a week. She was taken to hospital in Hagersville, Ont., not far from where she lives, and slipped into a coma that would last two weeks.

The Very Rev. Hon. Lois Wilson is an outspoken anti-poverty activist, a critic of political oppression and an advocate for the environment, and she is also a woman who has spent her career building bridges in Canada and abroad between people of various faiths and none who want to see the advent of a more just world.​

At Advent, Christians find themselves looking in two directions. Even as they remember Christ’s nativity, they also anticipate his coming again. Like the season of Lent, Advent is an opportunity for Christians to examine where they are now in light of where they have come from and where they are going.

A project funded by Anglicans to provide water facilities for 10 houses in Pikangikum First Nation, a fly-in reserve located 500 km northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., has succeeded in turning on the taps, but the work of advocacy is just beginning.

The word “pilgrimage” often conjures up images of holy places in ancient lands, of quiet prayer and inward reflection. But for a group of Anglicans and Lutherans in Toronto, the word took on a new meaning Nov. 22 when they participated in “Come and See,” a pilgrimage put on by Anglican community organizers from the diocese of Toronto in conjunction with the national church.

In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) on November 19, prominent Catholic scholar and activist Mary-Jo Leddy spoke about the challenges the 21st century church faces in a world where the importance of common space and the public good has diminished.

Amidst the presentations and discussions, Council of General Synod (CoGS) also included a moment of giving when Andy Seal, director of Augsburg Fortress Canada, presented Archbishop Fred Hiltz with a miniature replica of Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz’s widely acclaimed Homeless Jesus sculpture.

Though many Canadians might not often think about the nation’s mining practices, they are “very well known” to the rest of the world, said National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald in a presentation to Council of General Synod Nov.15. This was not, MacDonald hastened to add, a good thing.

Andrea Mann, global relations director at the Anglican Church of Canada, took some time during her presentation to Council of General Synod (CoGS) Nov. 15 to talk about how Jerusalem Sunday has furthered the Canadian church’s commitment to building a strong relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

On Nov. 17, representatives of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) presented a statement to the Council of General Synod (CoGS) calling for the church to allow space for structures of governance that are more in line with indigenous ways of thinking about leadership and power, and to support the movement of indigenous Anglicans toward self-determination.

Mississauga, Ont. Council of General Synod took some time Nov. 15 to consider what council members have learned so far from the new ways of working, which were brought in as part of Vision 2019 to deal with some of the financial and administrative pressures the national church has been facing in recent years.

Bishop Lydia Mamakwa and National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald spoke to Council of General Synod (CoGS) Nov. 14 about the long journey toward the establishment of the first indigenous diocese in North America, the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh, and of how that journey is continuing in the wake of its creation.

Mississauga, Ont.The Anglican Church of Canada’s special advisor for government relations on Nov. 14 gave a presentation to Council of General Synod (CoGS) about what principles should guide church involvement with government and how churches can best go about giving witness to their faith while trying to effect change in public policy.

In a presentation to Council of General Synod (CoGS) Nov.14, the Rev. Canon Judy Rois and Emily Wall talked about some of the successes the Anglican Foundation has seen in the last year, and explained how much room there is for continued growth in Canada.

If meaningful planning is to happen, dioceses need to start gathering reliable and useful statistical data from their parishes. This was the central message of a presentation made to the Council of General Synod (CoGS) Nov. 14 by Archdeacon Michael Thompson, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Earlier this week, seminarians at St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Seminary in Scarborough, Ont., were invited to join the Wycliffe College community in Toronto for an evening of ecumenical fellowship and a lecture from Andrew Bennett, Canada’s ambassador to the Office of Religious Freedom.

Students, religious leaders, activists and scholars packed the University of Toronto Multi-Faith Centre Nov. 3 to hear Canada’s ambassador for the Office of Religious Freedom, Andrew Bennett, participate in a panel discussion with prominent Canadian political scientist Melissa Williams and legal scholar Anna Su about religious freedom in an international context.

On Oct. 31, the Canadian Church Historical Society (CCHS) met for its first conference in 12 years. The conference, organized to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the diocese of Toronto, was held at the University of Toronto’s Trinity College—a fitting location given that college’s prominent place in the history of the diocese.

As a clearer picture about the Parliament Hill shooting takes shape, the Anglican Journal has asked leadership within the Anglican Church of Canada to reflect on the role of the church in troubled times.

As Canadian troops prepare for deployment to Iraq to join the combat mission against the militant Sunni group known as the Islamic State (ISIS), the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada urged Canadian Anglicans to pray for the people of Syria and Iraq and for the members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Midnight on Saturday is not a time many people would traditionally associate with poetry. But then, there was much that was not traditional about The Composition Engine, a performance art installation curated by Toronto’s Anglican Church of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields on Oct. 4 in conjunction with Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, an annual all-night arts festival that takes place across downtown Toronto.

For many Canadians, the justice system exists in the background, a vague abstraction that exists to maintain order and keep people safe—a benign, trustworthy institution. This is not, unfortunately, always the case.

On Saturday, Oct. 4, hundreds of people across Canada and the United States will climb on their bikes to raise support for hundreds of charities working to help some of the world’s most marginalized people.

On a recent visit to the Anglican Church of Canada’s national office in Toronto, the archdeacon of the diocese of North Queensland, Chris Wright, sat down with the Anglican Journal to talk about the similarities between mission in the Canadian and Australian contexts.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has thrown his support behind the military airstrikes against the Islamic State (known also as ISIL or ISIS), a radical organization of insurgents in Iraq and Syria attempting to create a “caliphate,” or Islamic government ruled by a single individual in accordance with Sharia law.

The Anglican Journal is the national newspaper of the
Anglican Church of Canada. It is published 10 times a year and carries 23
regional newspapers that provide important local information for Anglican
dioceses. The website of the Anglican Journal—anglicanjournal.com—keeps
visitors informed with daily news of interest to Anglicans across Canada
and around the world.